Kisses Can Be Complicated
by Lacey Barbed Wire
Summary: Emma had been listening to Henry far too much. At least, that's what she told herself. That was why she was upset about the state of her relationship with Regina. All of his talk about True Love's Kiss had gotten to her, and now she was upset because Regina wouldn't kiss her back. May be a oneshot, may be a two shot depending on how I feel and your responses.
1. Chapter 1

Emma had been listening to Henry far too much. At least, that's what she told herself. That was why she was upset about the state of her relationship with Regina. All of his talk about True Love's Kiss had gotten to her, and now she was upset because Regina wouldn't kiss her back.

Well, okay, maybe upset was too strong of a word. For something that had started out as casual, meaningless sex, her relationship with Regina was going far better than she'd ever expected. First the sex had gone from once a month to once a week, then every night. After Mary-Margaret had walked in on them, Regina had decided to take their relationship public, but Emma could tell that the older woman's heart wasn't really in it. She just seemed to get some kind of perverse pleasure out of rubbing their relationship in Mary-Margaret's face for some reason. Regina had started too cool down though when she realized that nobody was really surprised (Ruby and Leroy had apparently even started a betting pool), not even Henry.

But Emma wasn't having any of that. She wasn't looking for marriage, but she wanted stability dammit! So one night she'd taken matters into her own hands. She and Regina had just finished, and Regina had gone to get out of bed (They'd taken to using Emma's bed so that they could be sure Henry wouldn't hear them or, heaven forbid, walk in on them.), when Emma grabbed her and pulled her back down. "What do you think you're doing?" Regina had snapped, struggling to get out of Emma's bear hug.

"Tonight you're going to stay here and cuddle." Emma told her simply, tightening her grip. Regina had frozen.

"That's not how this works." She'd said quietly.

"It is now." Emma had retorted stubbornly. There'd been a pause, and then Regina had sighed.

"Fine. But if we're going to do this, we're going to do it right. Let me go and turn so you're facing that wall." Emma had frowned.

"Why?"

"Because if we're going to spoon, then I'm going to be the Big Spoon. Now roll over." Emma had rolled her eyes, but she rolled over anyway.

Since then things had started to progress fairly steadily. Regina had started to smile genuinely, and hold Emma's hand in public, and even occasionally kiss her. But then, suddenly, Regina had backed off. All of the sudden, Regina had gone from slowly becoming more passionate and even tender to being a cold bitch again. She hadn't dumped Emma yet, but Regina had stopped kissing her back, usually even turning her cheek to make sure Emma wouldn't kiss her on the lips.

Emma shook her head angrily. Forget it. Whether or not Henry's stories were effecting her mind, she wasn't going to give up without a fight on one of the best things to ever happen to her. Because that's where this was going. If she let Regina pull back, this relationship was going to die, and she didn't want that. Everything she'd ever loved, everyone she'd ever loved, had gone away. She'd gotten Henry back, and she was going to get Regina back too.

Five minutes later- Regina's Office

Regina looked up sharply as Emma walked into her office. Ruby, who'd delivered lunch to Regina, raised an eyebrow. She'd become close(ish) to Regina during the time that Regina had been starting to open up (which the young woman referred to as the Great Defrosting), and so Regina had allowed her to occasionally spend time at the office. "What are you doing here?" Regina demanded, standing up. Emma didn't even seem to notice Ruby's presence.

"I'm here for you." Emma said shortly. Regina glanced at Ruby, but Emma still didn't acknowledge the third person's presence.

"Emma, I really don't think that this is a good time..." She started to say. A small part of Emma's brain acknowledged that it was good sign that Regina hadn't called her Sheriff Swan, but she was going for more than just being on a first name basis.

"You're going to make time." Emma told her firmly. Regina looked away nervously.

"Look, Emma, I get that you're upset about the things I've been doing, but you need to understand that everything I've done is for a good purpose..."

"A good purpose? What possible 'good purpose' is there for you ignoring me and being a cold hearted bitch again?" Emma demanded. "You don't even want to have sex anymore!" Ruby choked back a laugh as Regina blushed. "Tell me, what purpose is there behind that? Is the world going to explode if you act like you love me?" Regina flinched at the word 'love'.

"You're not that far off." Regina mumbled, looking down at the ground. Emma stepped forward, gently but firmly grabbing Regina by the collar of her suit jacket.

"One kiss. Just one kiss on the lips. That's all I ask." She said. Regina refused to meet her eyes.

"Emma, that's really not a good idea..." She said softly.

"Regina." Emma said gently. "Look at me." Regina slowly looked up, meeting Emma's eyes for the first time. Emma was startled to see not just nervousness but genuine fear in Regina's eyes. "One kiss? Please?" Regina gulped, then stiffened.

"Very well." She said coldly. "One kiss." Emma leaned forward and pressed her lips against Regina's. Regina grew stiffer, but then slowly, very slowly, relaxed, her eyes closing. Emma ran her tongue along Regina's still closed lips, gently asking for entrance. There was a moment of hesitation, then Regina opened her lips. Just as their tongues started to wrestle, a flash of purple light blasted out from them, filling the room, and then spreading out to cover the whole town. Emma pulled back, startled.

"What the hell was that?" She demanded. Her eyes had been closed, but the light had been so bright she'd been able to see it through her eyelids. Regina, for her part, was silent, staring intently at the ground again.

"Wow." Ruby said slowly, making the two older women jump. They'd forgotten that she was there. "You two are in so much trouble." She chuckled. "Snow is going to kill both of you." Regina raised an eyebrow.

"You're surprisingly calm." She said dryly. "Aren't you going to try and kill me?" Ruby shrugged.

"The way I see it, I got indoor plumbing, electricity, a constant source of shelter, and no curse. Of course it would have been nice for you to ask us first, but that's a topic for another day. Right now you need to get out of here before Snow gets a sword and tries to kill Regina for 'corrupting' her daughter."

"What are you talking about?" Emma demanded, looking from Regina to Ruby and back again in confusion.

"We'll tell you later." Regina said quickly. "For the moment, let's just get back to my mansion." Emma looked at her for a moment, then sighed.

"Fine. But I expect an answer when we get home." Regina stiffened in surprise slightly at the use of the word 'home', but she nodded, grabbed Emma by the hand, and dragged her out of the office.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Regina frowned in concentration as she locked the front door securely, then began locking all the windows and pulling the blinds and or curtains shut. With any luck the cretins won't find her for a while. She's rather surprised that she and Emma weren't mobbed at least once on the way to her home, but she'd be willing to settle for a temporary respite without complaint. Emma frowned in concern as she followed Regina around the house, confused and worried by this sudden level of paranoia. "Regina, what's going on?" She demanded as Regina locked the last window. Regina sighed and walked back to her living room, Emma in close pursuit.

"You may want to sit down." She told Emma. "This is going to take awhile." Oh how she wished that she'd kept some obviously magical items in the house. That'd make this so much easier. But she'd kept those things in the vault in the mausoleum, and she wasn't going to risk going out there for a while, not until she could be sure she wouldn't be linched at any rate. Emma sat down, looking confused. Regina pinched the bridge of her nose and started to pace, trying to figure out the best way to say what she needed to say. "Henry was right." She said finally, deciding on something that Emma could understand. Start small.

"About what?" Emma asked, confused. Regina glared at her.

"About the deliciousness of chocolate pudding." She said dryly. Emma's frown deepened.

"What does that have to do...Oh, right, sarcasm." Regina folded her arms, waiting for Emma to put two and two together. Emma blinked as it clicked. "You mean, about the book? His book of fairy tales?" Regina nodded, glancing over her shoulder to make sure that there weren't any mobs breaking down her door. Emma stared at her, not sure how to take this information. It was one thing to write Henry off as a silly little kid, it was another thing entirely to write off Regina of all people. It would have been easier to do if Henry's book had claimed that Regina was Snow White, or some other fairy tale character, but it didn't. It very clearly called her the Evil Queen. She couldn't picture Regina of all people giving in to a delusion of Henry's that painted her in such a bad light. And it explained part of the conversation that had taken place between Regina and Ruby before they'd rushed back to the mayoral mansion. But still...

"I assure you Emma, I am no lunatic." Regina said. "As impossible as it seems, and as annoying as it may be for me to admit, Henry was telling the truth." Emma looked at her in concern. The tone of Regina's voice told her that she's feeling something far worse than annoyance right now. Like before, when Emma was begging for a kiss, she sounded scared.

"Wait...but, how? I mean, if you're telling the truth, and that book is right, that would mean you're from another world. If that's the case, how do we have stories of you guys? The book said you've been here twenty-eight years, and the stories are much older than that." Regina stopped pacing to consider the question.

"You know, I honestly don't know." She said after a moment. She'd never thought about it before. Were the Brothers Grimm world travelers? She shook her head. "That's not important right now. What is important is that that insufferable book was telling the truth." Emma raised an eyebrow.

"You're repeating yourself." She said with a slight smile. Regina glared at her.

"Well, repeating oneself is the best way to get children to learn." She said dryly.

"Hey!" Emma protested. "I'm an adult! I'm a sheriff, I catch bad guys and stuff." Regina raised an eyebrow.

"Stuff?" She asked, both amused and exasperated at her lover's word choice.

"Paperwork." Emma muttered. Regina snorted.

"If you expect me to take your paperwork skills as a sign of your maturity, I'm afraid you are sorely mistaken."

"It's not my fault those papers were dull and overly complicated." Emma pouted.

"They were necessary. Just like how listening to me now is dear." Emma scowled and leaned back into the sofa.

"Alright, I'm listening." Regina took a deep breath and began.

Two hours later

Emma stared at the wall, trying to process everything. Regina sat down next to her and handed her a cup of coffee. "It's a lot to take in." The former queen said. Emma nodded absently and took a sip of coffee.

"You're telling me." Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. Well, more of a pounding really. Both women looked up and stared at the door.

"Well, it took them longer than I thought it would." Regina said dryly, standing up. "They must have been busy squabbling over who'd get to stab me first." Emma stood up and grabbed her hand, squeezing it gently.

"They're going to have to get through me first." She said with a cocky grin, patting the gun on her hip. Regina rolled her eyes, but squeezed Emma's hand back before letting go and heading for the door. She opened it, realized who was standing there, and blinked.

"Well well. Snow, Charming, what an unpleasant surprise." Emma frowned at the sight of an angry Mary Margret and an awkward David, confused. What were they doing here...? Then it clicked. They were technically her parents. She was the same age as her parents...

"Alright, it's official. This curse business is giving me a headache." Emma told Regina. Regina rolled her eyes and glared at the couple on her porch.

"You're welcome by the way." Snow said. Regina rolled her eyes again.

"For what, giving Emma a headache?" She asked.

"No, for keeping the mobs away."

"We convinced them all to back down." David said by way of explanation. "We told them that between Emma and us, we'd be able to keep you more or less in check. You're under house arrest of course, and once they regain their bearings I'm sure you'll have an angry mob or two to deal with, but for now the only ones who still seemed pissed at you are Rumpelstiltskin and Whale, and we got Whale to back off as well. Rumple though..."

"Is still very much upset at you dearie." The man said from behind Snow and Charming, making everyone but Regina jump. "We have unfinished business, you and I." Gold continued, glaring at Regina. "And now that everyone else has their memories back, well, I think killing you will get me a medal now instead of a prison sentence, don't you?" Regina reached into her suit pocket and silently pulled out an envelope. Gold raised an eyebrow. "Do you think you can bribe your way out of this situation?" He asked dryly.

"In a manner of speaking, yes." Regina said, opening the envelope and pulling out a photo marked with yesterday's date on it. It showed a very pretty young woman, sitting disheveled on a bed. Regina gave a slight smirk at Gold's small intake of breath. "Inclosed in this envelope is a key and instructions for the nurse in charge of keeping Belle in her room. You take this envelope and go free her, and in turn you stay away from me and my family unless Emma or I come to you first." Emma, Snow, and Charming all stared at her in shock due to her essentially calling Emma family, but Gold was deep in thought, making sure the picture was real.

"Deal." He said finally, taking the envelope and stalking off. Regina smirked.

"Well, that's one problem dealt with." She said smugly, shutting the door in the Charmings' faces. Emma rolled her eyes as Regina walked away with a smirk on her face.

"Now who's the immature one?" She called after the older woman as someone, most likely Snow, began pounding on the door again.

"You." Regina replied simply. Emma rolled her eyes again and sighed.

'It's going to be a long day.' She thought as she opened the door. 


End file.
